


Pulling Punches

by Matu



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-04-04 08:06:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14015925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Matu/pseuds/Matu
Summary: Genma reveals to Soun that Ranma has been pulling his punches for years. See what happens when he suddenly stops physically and emotionally. Set after the failed Wedding.





	1. Chapter 1

Genma and Soun sat on the porch playing shogi as usual but today Soun had managed to convince Genma to share more about his training trip with Ranma.

"I don't understand, Soun. He suddenly stopped going all out about three years ago." He heaved a sigh as he took his turn. "One day he came back from school for training and was no longer hitting as hard as he could. He stopped using techniques that might injure his opponent beyond a bruise. He even had the audacity to pull his punches with me. Not that I'm complaining, we probably got more training done in the long haul because of it. If it weren't for the years of conditioning we underwent during our training, he would have been breaking bones at that point."

Soun only nodded while thinking of his next turn. "Perhaps it was for the best then; besides its the mark of a great man and an even greater martial artist to know when to hold back." He smiled as he finally figured out a good move and executed it, rewarding himself with a sip of tea.

Genma looked frustrated for a second, he was really hoping Soun wouldn't spot the flaw in his strategy. "But that's the thing he's been holding back against every opponent since then. And when I confronted him on it those years ago he made the excuse that: 'I don't like hurtin' people, pop.' Like a weakling. He even stopped going for real insults too."

Soun was still busy patting himself on the back. He didn't notice Genma cheat by slipping an extra piece on the board that protected his strategy. "Well old friend, maybe it's a good thing your son is so kind hearted."

Soun turned his eyes back to the board for his next turn and was hit with a sudden wave of confusion. He was certain his victory was assured last turn. He glared angrily at the board.  
"I wasn't exaggerating when I said every opponent. I wasn't there to witness the fight between him and that Saffron guy but from what I hear this is the first time he's fought someone fully intending to bring bodily harm in years. From what I understand, the guy could heal faster than Ranma could hurt him at the beginning of the fight and by the end, Ranma was still standing and Saffron was dead on the ground."

"He KILLED someone!?" Soun almost blew a gasket.

"Well not technically, the guy was a demigod or a god or something like that, part Phoenix or whatever, after he died he turned into and egg or an egg appeared for him to be reborn from, I don't know. I just know the guy isn't permanently dead. But that's not important, from what Akane, tells me the boy never once threw a punch intend to break bones or cause internal damage, just to incapacitate.”

Soun made his move while Genma was distracted and switch a few pieces around advantage back on his side. Game aside, Soun was suddenly nervous, not for himself but for the wellbeing of Ranma's opponents. After a calming sip of tea, he spoke. "Well I don't see the big problem so long as he doesn't go all out against anyone."

"But that's just the start of it! You remember our five days to learn a new skill rule when he was still a child. The only skill he didn't master within 48 hours was the neko ken. And it only takes him seeing a technique two or three time to understand it and about 24-36 hour to make it his. 72 hours if he only sees it once. He already revealed to me that he's known the breaking point move since the first day of seeing it, has it fully mastered in fact. I'm sure that by now he could give the master a run for his money with the master's own skills at that. Heck, he could probably take the old ghoul while he's at it."

"Yes I'm well aware of how quickly he learns if you recall he asked me to do a single run through of every Kata in the Tendou school months ago and came back to me the next day with them mastered and improved. It was simultaneously humiliating and awe inspiring to see him move through my own moves with more fluidity and grace than I ever could." Soun conceded.

"Pride aside, I don't think he's been taking our sparring sessions seriously for a long time. It's only a matter of time before he realizes he doesn't have to put up with the stuff people put him through daily." Genma said as he discreetly moved one of Soun's pieces into a losing position and his own into a winning one.

However, Soun caught him this time and shouted "LOOK A HUNDRED YEN!" and quietly switched it so he had won the match while his oldest friend scrambled greedily for the nonexistent money. "Ah my mistake just a trick of the light." By the time Genma turned around it was too late to save the shogi match.

This conversation took place the day before the failed wedding.


	2. Doesn't hurt as much as you think

Ranma and Akane were walking to school a couple days after the incident. He still felt guilty about what he said that day. Ranma really did love Akane, he just got so dang nervous when he was asked about it or tried to bring it up himself. He'd been working on a technique that would help him say what he really felt. “All I have to do is keep myself distracted from what I'm saying and it should come out fine,” he thought to himself as he flipped onto his hands while balancing on the fence post.

Akane watched him as he began to walk on two fingers while balancing on the fence. “Ugh why's he gotta be such a show off?!” She fumed silently, frustration evident on her face. She was about to start complaining to herself that she could be that good if only someone would train her seriously, when Ranma interrupted her line of thought.

"Hey 'kane?" Ranma beckoned effort clear in his voice he was focusing hard. Balancing all his weight on his little fingers was as hard as he hoped it would be and was taking 95% of his concentration. "You know I like you more than the other girls and stuff... "He trailed off as he almost lost his balance. "And I actually think y-you're kinda c-cute when you're being nice..."  
Akane was so thrown off by the nice words, she almost forgot to get flustered. Almost. A rosy blush snuck its way onto her face without her even noticing. She was going to say something when he abruptly behaving again.

Ranma needed to finish, sure he always kept a nonchalant air about him when he could but he wasn't using any Ki to help him do this notoriously difficult exercise.

"...Anyways I was wondering... If you wanted to go on a date or something?" He wasn't entirely sure what he had just said there, he just knew from the look on Akane's face, that he had succeeded in keeping his feet away from his mouth. "We can go anywhere and do anything you want, just let me know when you want to do it."

Akane was so surprised by the question, her legs gave out on her. She was at a loss for words sitting on the ground. Ranma noticed Akane on the floor and did a flip off the fence landing a couple feet away from Akane. Shaking his hands to loose the muscles before offering her one to help her up.

Akane was pulled from her shock by this gesture. She was so happy she could kiss him but she didn't. "O-Of course we can go on a date Ranma. We should probably keep quiet about it so no one shows up to interrupt it. Saturday evening sound good, we could go see a movie." Akane didn't let go of his hand after standing up. She instead started to walk with him in hand to school.

Ranma was pretty nervous that she was still holding his hand but he relaxed when she lean her head on his shoulder.

They were coming up on the school now and neither made a move to separate. He could see Kuno standing there with the katana he used to attack the wedding.

"What is that psycho doing now?!" Akane shouted. Akane could feel Ranma tense up.  
"I'm so tired of dealing with him every day. And now he's decided to take off the kiddy gloves." He mumbled making a disgruntled sound. "Fine. If hurting people is the only way to get through to them then the gloves are coming off." And add in his head. "I'm gonna give him one last chance to rethink this and then I'm going to put him in a body cast."

"Ranma!" Akane sounded shocked. He stopped to look at her. "Be careful." Worry evident on her face.

"Fine I won't break any bones... this time." He thought as he walked into the school courtyard. He reluctantly let go of Akane's hand and got into a stance.

Akane instantly noticed the difference between this fight and every other fight his stance wasn't nonchalant as it usually was; this time it was solid low and ready, showing no openings. She'd never seen him take a stance like this before. Somewhere in the back of her mind screamed “That's a judo stance.”

"Kuno, this is your last and only chance to back off Akane and I." He shouted with a lot more authority than anyone present had ever seen him use; simultaneously cutting off the rest of Kuno's speech about how it has always been his family's responsibility to strike down evil.  
Kuno seemed to ponder the implied threat for a moment before his fantasy world took hold again.

Suddenly he wasn't Tatewaki Kuno, high school level kendo regional champ, but the great Blue Thunder of Furinkan, high invincible slayer of demons. Shouting "HAVE AT THEE, FOUL SORCERER!" He raised the family honor blade high above his head and rushed his opponent.  
Ranma took a deep breathe in, centered himself and released the soul of ice technique to keep himself calm. Students watching from the building suddenly felt the temperature drop drastically, their breath now noticeably visible in front of their faces. Kuno was upon him now, bringing the sword down. And suddenly he was on the floor. Ranma had executed a basic judo flip and was still hold the wrist of the hand still currently housing the honor blade.

For a second, Kuno pondered the odd pressure in his wrist it wasn't noticeable at first in fact it still wasn't all that painful, he heard something clatter to the floor and suddenly his hand was free. He stared at his hand in fascination for a moment. It appeared to be fine but he could not feel his fingers nor could he convince them to move.

"Stand up Kuno. We aren't done here." Ranma said with a seriousness that betrayed the ease at which he disabled his opponent. Kuno was to his feet, rattling another butchered Shakespearean style speech.

Kuno was on the advance again swinging the blade about with one hand. The attacks were painstakingly slow well at least for Ranma they were. This time, Ranma stepped into Kuno's guard, his first punch disarmed and disabled Kuno's other hand. His next three punches disabled the arms at the shoulders and his leg at the waist. These punches were thrown at the speed of a normal fighter so Kuno could track them.

The last one broke Kuno's nose with a resounding crack Ranma's fist struck like a whip. Blood gushed from his nose. Somewhere in the back of his head Kuno noticed how the injury didn't hurt as bad as he thought it would. “Still not technically a bone,” Ranma thought, somewhat vindictively. 

"Listen up Kuno and listen good cause I'm only gonna say this once. From now on, the next time you or anyone else attacks me or Akane, I will take it as a challenge. Not only against me and my school of martial arts but to my honor as a martial artist as well and will not hold back any longer." He said this loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. With that Ranma turn picked up the katana and broke the blade several times with a few chops and lightly tapped the hilt with a single finger. The hilt promptly crumbled to sawdust.

At that he walked back Akane, whom he already knew he had pissed off with his last comment and promptly apologized for implying that she couldn't fight for herself. He also reassured her that none of Kuno's injuries would be permanent. She breathed a sigh of relief as Ranma suddenly stopped being the calculating martial artist and started being Ranma the cocky jerk she loved.

"Actually, Ranma, with everything that's happened this past month... I was wondering if you would help me train to get better." Ranma could tell that asking this was a blow to her pride so he tried to be gentle.

"Alright but before we start you have to get your temper under control." He said when she seemed to take offense to that he quickly tacked on a side note. "An angry fighter is a sloppy fighter." This worked to appease her. He had to hold back the urge to sigh in relief that things were going well today he thought. "Maybe, pops is right about this." He smiled as he took Akane's hand and they walked into the school making it to class on time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n  
> It seems Ranma overheard Gemma's conversation. As always thanks for reading and please feel free to leave a review. Judo was originally created to combat armed and armored foes. Not to mention foes that outclassed you in height and weight.


	3. Meal Time Mashup and RoofTop Rendezvous

School today was going absolutely horrid for Kuno. Normally he'd wake up a few moments after the bell in the infirmary but today was different, he was given the misfortune of being awake through every moment of pain until he was properly treated. It was quite the blow to his ego, having his fighting style dissected by that cretin Ranma. Not to mention how Ranma and Akane had been holding hands during the walk to school.

Returning from Dr. Tofu's clinic to school, he couldn't help but feel shame at the sight of his family blade shattered in the dirt. The hilt was nowhere to be seen. What had he been thinking bringing in a real katana and the family honor blade at that? Suddenly it occurred to him he had been thoroughly, without a doubt in his mind, out-classed by Ranma. Reality suddenly crushed his fantasy world.

"How long has he been capable of-" it pained him to even think of the word being applied to himself "-defeating me so completely..?" He thought back to the first fight he had with Ranma. He never once took an actual stance beyond his usual relaxed one. In fact if Kuno recalled right the only reason the fight ended was because it started raining. Actually if Kuno remembered correctly a lot of his fights often ended because of water. It was also right after his second fight with Ranma being interrupted by water did he meet his pigtailed goddess. 

Suddenly, he could list a hundred similar occurrences; where in Ranma would disappear and be replaced by the pigtailed goddess. He would have words with Nabiki about this as well as how long Ranma has been such a great fighter. He would have to ask during lunch because class was already started. He pulled himself out of his thought as he walked into the door to his classroom, a whirlwind of murmurs kicked up between his classmates who were immediately quelled by his teacher.

"I assume you have a doctor's note?" Mr. Sakamoto postulated, holding his hand out for the note, skimming it shortly. "I will inform your Physical Education teacher and Kendo instructor of the doctor's ruling against your participation. The vice principal has requested to see you after class today privately. Take your seat."

Kuno was about to protest against being barred from these activities but Mr. Sakamoto's tone left no room for argument. "Yes sir..." Kuno mumbled quietly and he took his seat and began to endure class moving at a snail's pace.

Nabiki, on the other hand was having a wonderful day, everyone had lost the betting pool today, which means she had won the jackpot. No one, not even herself, had expected that kind of beat down today. Though she was concerned about other pools she had going, for one, the dating pool. She was fairly certain she had just lost a good chunk of yen, based on the hand holding she had witnessed. She could fix that by "accidentally" letting it slip in front of their fathers. Then again Akane did look happy. "Maybe I won't..." she mused silently.

Kuno walked in sometime after the bell, still looking pretty shaken. His nose in a splint. "If Ranma messed up Kuno's dumb, handsome face he and I are gonna have a problem." she fumed to no one but herself. Nabiki's little infatuation with Kuno was the best kept secret in Nermia, solely because she was the only one who knew about it. Kuno made a gesture to Nabiki that meant they were meeting up for lunch so he could get some info. She gave a nod and pointed a finger up which meant the meeting would take place on the roof. A couple hours stretched by and the bell rang for lunch block A; Kuno's face lit up for a second before realizing it wasn't actually time yet. "Sorry Kuno, baby, 45 more minutes."

Ranma's day was still going pretty well. He still felt a little guilty about hurting Kuno… but not enough to keep him from falling asleep in class.

A short time into his nap, Mrs. Hinako dropped a textbook from on top of her desk with a resounding boom, startling Ranma awake. He was on his feet in the blink of an eye, poised to fight. He could hear some people restraining the urge to laugh.

"Mr. Saotome, if my class is so boring, perhaps you'd prefer to hold buckets in the hall." Mrs. Hinako's voice full of authority despite sounding like a child. "And as added punishment you are not to hold the buckets at your side, but like this." she made a "T" with her arms. "And you are to do it across the hall from the classroom door so I can check and make sure you aren't slacking."  
Ranma sighed lately, her punishments were getting a little more severe. "Yes, Mrs. Hinako."

Just as he was exiting the room she added, "And no using ki to make it easier." Ranma groaned inwardly, she had just made a difficult punishment that much harder...

He ended up out there until lunch bell rang.

"You may stop now Mr. Saotome." called from the classroom. Ranma sighed as he retrieved his lunch and left to join Akane for lunch outside.

He was nearing the tree Akane sat under when he heard a familiar "BBRRING BBRRING" his smile quickly faded to a full blown scowl.

Akane watched in fascination as Ranma ducked under the front tire of Shampoo's bike and at speeds surpassing the amaguriken dismantled the bike and threw the pieces in different directions over the horizon. Akane quietly debated if there was anyone Ranma was more sore towards than the amazons after this past month.

"Aiya husband why you do that?!" Shampoo shouted in her faux cutesy voice, Akane was convinced Shampoo didn't sound like that 24/7.

"Because I'm tired of you using my face as a landing pad!" he shouted.

"Shampoo only trying to surprise husband with lunch. Shampoo make special for you husband." she said as she pulled him into a rib cracking hug.

Akane was about to get jealous when suddenly Shampoo was sent sliding away from Ranma, his hand still extended from the open palm strike that undoubtedly would leave a bruise.  
"AIYA! Kitchen wrecker must make food for husband again if he this mad. Here you eat special made ramen now." Akane took offense to that but kept her distance she could see Ranma was about to lose his cool.

Ranma was about to say something when he found his mouth suddenly full of noodle and chopstick. This only served to set him off further. He bit down and broke the chopsticks in halves and spit them and the noodles into the dirt, the points of the chopsticks embedding in the dirt. 

"AFTER ALL THE TIMES YOU TRIED DRUGGING ME WITH YOUR FOOD, YOU THINK I'D ACTUALLY EAT SOMETHING YOU MADE FOR 'SPECIAL' FOR ME." Ranma sent a single jab out and poked a finger through the side of the bowl which promptly exploded showering Shampoo in ramen and glass. The few fresh cuts now marring Shampoo's face gently oozed blood. Shampoo looked ready to cry. Ranma mentally shrugged and grabbed Shampoo by the collar shouting

"Next time I see you I'll consider it a challenge against my honor as a martial artist." He paused before quietly adding so only Shampoo could hear, "Consider this my version of the kiss of death; next time I see you, you'll be going home covered in a cast instead of ramen." at the Ranma threw Shampoo back to the Neko haten.

Akane was shocked she was going to talk to him about how he shouldn't have broken Kuno's nose but the scowl still on his face said this was not the right time to discuss either of the happenings that had occurred so far today. She sighed, she couldn't seem to get a word in edgewise today.

Nabiki was on the roof enjoying her lunch while counting her yen. She had made another sum of cash after Ranma's lunch block. She started putting the cash away, she was expecting Kuno any moment now. As she finished putting it away she heard Kuno speak up.

"Nabiki Tendou, I require two pieces of information on that cretin Saotome."

"Well Kuno you know how this works" she cooed hand held out for compensation first.  
"Right, of course. I would like to know how long Ranma Soatome has been holding back against his opponents."

"Ooh, Kuno that one is gonna cost you 40,000 yen." she stuck out her hand expecting a much smaller stack of bills than she received.

"That is 200,000 yen in return I expect all information to be 100% true, riddle and word play free." His tone showed he was serious. Nabiki was kind of shocked by both the seriousness of his tone and the hefty sum he handed her but she didn't let it show on her face. She quickly counted the bills before

"Well then, I heard directly from Ranma's father that he started holding back against all opponents three years prior to arriving here in Nermia; no word on why though. Next question." She stated matter-of-factly. Sometimes the information game was too easy.  
"What is the connection between Ranma and the pigtailed girl and what does it have to do with water?" Kuno's hand already counting bills.

Nabiki sighed 'there goes one of my biggest sources of income; better milk this question for all its worth,' she mused before saying "That's gonna cost something other than money." Maybe I should take this chance, he seems a lot more rational today, I wonder if that his rattled his brain of something.

"And what might that be?" he questioned, eyeing Nabiki carefully. Her alternate forms of payment usually tended to be expensive even if the money didn't go directly to her.  
"You're going to take me out on a date, Saturday evening." she said watching him get that adorable confused look again. "I'll let you handle the where and what we do."

Kuno sighed maybe he could keep this from being overly expensive. "Alright I'll pick you up from your house saturday evening."

"The pigtailed girl and Ranma are the same person. Ranma has a curse that causes him to turn female when splashed with cold water, however warm water returns him to normal. He received this curse in a training accident while at the cursed springs of Jusenkyo shortly before leaving china."

"I see if you are not willing to speak the truth then I shall take my funds back and get the truth directly from the source." he reached for the wad of cash sitting in Nabiki's lap.

Nabiki slapped Kuno's hand hard, while saying "Hold it Kuno baby I got video proof." she pulled a camcorder out of her bag and pulled up the appropriate video. She watched as Kuno's eye bulged out of his head after seeing Ranma's transformation to and from his female form. Kuno sat there too stunned to move, he sat there processing this info against all his memories.

"Are there others?" he asked sounding a bit devastated, Nabiki merely list off who and what they turned into. She figured he deserved a freebie after all the times she had sold him pictures of his hated rival. Hopefully he won't come looking for a refund.

A/N: Thank you for reading and leaving reviews for me. I'm glad you like it. I'm having more fun writing it than I thought I would.


	4. Looking Foreward to Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I am looking for an editor my previous one decided to flake out on me so... like i tried to edit it myself but I'm too close to this to see the problems with it. If you interested in editing/reading the chapters early. Send me a message or something and I'll get back to you. Sorry for the wait on this chapter I tried my best to edit it.

Ranma's day has been steadily heading south since its high point this morning when he had successfully asked Akane for a date. He's been thinking of ways to keep himself from getting nervous during the date. He had a couple idea's, the first was to start buying and trying to solve those little wire puzzles he seen the smarter kids in class do; the other was to do increasingly difficult exercises in ways that were completely undetectable. Like instead of actually sitting in a chair he'd do a squat close enough to the chair that it seemed like he was sitting but never actually relaxing into the seat. Outside this he had nothing maybe he could talk to someone about this sort of thing. The problem is the only person he could talk to about this sort of thing was Dr. Tofu but he gets all weird at the slightest mention of Kasumi.

"That's it!" he almost said aloud, "Kasumi is always calm and happy even when she should be pretty mad at people. She's gotta know of some way to keep calm in all sorts of situations." But for now he had asked to borrow one of the wire puzzles Toyo in class his had solved. He said he had to reset it but seemed otherwise happy to lend it to Ranma.  
Ranma's school day was winding to a close as he was packing his things and heading to wait for Akane to walk home with her.  
Akane was having the strangest day it was like one of those dreams she has when Ranma stops acting like a jerk. But then there were those moments where Ranma didn't seem like himself. But outside those moments he seemed fine.  
Akane was walking from the classroom to meet with Ranma; she spotted him in the distance leaning against the school gate, he seemed to be fiddling with something in his hands. She called his name a couple times but he seemed too focused on what was in her hands so she waited until she was standing with him to get his attention. She waved a hand in front of his face, he looked up and smiled a bright smile that almost melted her heart.

"Oh hey Akane when'd you get here?" his eyes shot back to his hands occasionally as he said this "you ready to go home?" After he finished talking his eyes were glued back to the puzzle.

"Yeah, sorry for making you wait Yuki and Sayori were trying to get me to hang out Saturday evening I had to come up with an excuse not to which..." Akane trailed off, was he even listening?! She caught a glance at what he was doing with his hands; he was working on one of those puzzles where the objective was to get the lengths of wire apart without bending the wire. She was about to hit him for ignoring but he suddenly responded.

"You didn't tell them about our date did you?" His eyes never once leaving the task in hand.

"...No I managed to convince them that Kasumi was giving me cooking lessons that day and I invited them to come taste test, they refused but told me that if anything changes I should meet them at the downtown mall. Which from the looks of it means we're going to have to go uptown for our movie." She said still not completely convinced he was listening.

"Oh okay, good job. And speaking of our date plans, what movie are we going to go see?" He still wasn't looking at her while he talked. She for a second wondered if he even cared.

"It's a surprise. You'll have to wait and see!" there that's what he gets for not paying any attention to me. Ranma begged for a minute or so, to know what movie it was but he never looked up from the puzzle. From there the conversation slowly relaxed into an uncomfortable, for Akane, silence she really needed to get this off her chest and just ask him. So she pushed down the butterflies, for their upcoming date, in her stomach and took the plunge. She stopped walking to ask.

"Ranma are you okay? You've been acting strange ever since the wedding fiasco. Especially with your rivals and other fiancées." The butterflies returned with a vengeance, this time they were nervous about Ranma's response.  
Ranma heaved a sigh. "I dunno 'kane. It's just outside you Hiroshi and Diasuke, if you can count those pervs, the closest thing I have to friends is my rivals and the crazy fiancées. And excluding the Kunos and the Amazons, Shampoo and Cologne specifically, as people I don't actually care for I'm left with Ryoga, Ukyo and Moose as friends. And even though I'm glad that they interrupted the wedding, cause let's face it no matter how much we love each other we aren't ready to marry, it was wrong of them to do so. Friends just don't treat each other the way they treat you and I; heck even rivals don't treat each other like this. I guess I'm just fed up with them not treating us as people. And sometimes it seems like the only thing that gets through their thick heads is violence; so I guess I decided to do it their way and stop going easy on them."

Akane decided to, for Ranma's sake, gloss over the fact that he had just said that he loved her again. "Is that why you actually hit Shampoo today? And broke Kuno's nose?"

"Yeah I mean... I did try to talk to them first." He suddenly sounded self-conscious.

"You broke Kuno's nose and if that palm strike on Shampoo had been a little upwards you might have broken her ribs?!" He looked up from the puzzle his hands still absentmindedly playing with it, he looked nervous. Akane sighed, she couldn't stay mad not about this, he was making an effort towards some normalcy in his and her lives. Someone had to take the first step and she supposed it had to be Ranma for it to have any real effect. "Look do you want me to help you with this before you wind up ruining your friendship with the other three."

"M-maybe not with Ukyo, I think if you're there she won't believe a word of anything we say. And I got something private to discuss with Ryoga. I figure I'll be seeing Moose or Cologne sometime before the end of the day." He was still messing with that puzzle. She was getting tired of him fidgeting like that; it felt like she wasn't getting his full attention.

"WOULD YOU STOP FIDGETING WITH THAT THING FOR A MINUTE AND TALK TO ME?!" she yelled as she snatched it from his hands.

"HEY GIVE THAT BACK! I NEED THAT!" Ranma shouted immediately trying to snatch it back. He just knew he was going to say something dumb without it.

"NO, WHY DO YOU NEED IT SO MUCH!" She shouted more of a demand than a question in this shouting match.

"SO I CAN TALK TO YOU WITHOUT GETTING NERVOUS YOU DUMB TOMBOY" Ranma screamed back in retaliation.

"RANMA YOU- YOU JERK" Akane throttled him; launching him back toward the high school, and turned the other way to storm off going home. Later when she calmed down enough to think about it, she would realize that he was actually being kinda sweet in his own dumb way.

Kuno walked into the vice principal's office, Mr. Shimazu the replacement after the previous one quit sometime after Kuno's father had returned. He was a lot more no nonsense than his predecessor. Kuno silently wondered what this was about. Somewhere, in the far back of his mind now, fantasy Kuno stated that the vice principal must want to help get rid of the foul demon, real world Kuno knew this was about him bringing a real weapon to school. How could he have gotten so caught up in his own denial that he had completely lost track of reality.

"You may come in now Mr. Kuno." the gruff voice of the assistant principal sounded from his office. Kuno obeyed immediately. "Please have a seat." If Kuno wasn't keen on these things before he was now, he could tell right off the bat that Mr. Shimazu was a seasoned martial artist and a serious one. "Kuno can I ask you something, do you know why you're here?"

"It is because I brought a real katana to school instead of my practice bokken." Kuno said sheepishly.

"Yes that is one of the reasons why you are here today and we will get to your punishment on that, as well as your other infractions, soon enough." Mr. Shimazu sighed this was going to be difficult the boy had just gotten his father back too. "The main reason is that, and this brings me no joy to say, your father has been incarcerated for harassing the student body as well as some of the pedestrians passing by the school, effective tomorrow I will be the school's principal." He looked to Kuno to see if he needed comforting but was astounded to see the boy wasn't even slightly concerned; usually this kind of news devastated someone. "Are you alright son you know this means you are going to be on your own again?"

"I'm well aware of that... it's just that he abandoned us a long time ago and even after he came back he still wasn't really around much so nothing has changed in that regard." Kuno spoke evenly if not still intimidated by the now principal Shimazu. "Frankly sir, I'd rather move on from the subject."

"... Alright, well then let's start from the beginning of the school year then." Kuno paled he was here for every infraction he had committed throughout the year. This might take a while. "You interrupted the freshmen orientation to say that anyone capable of defeating, a Miss. Akane Tendo in battle wins the right to date her. This caused a horde of about 50-70 of our male student body to challenge her to a fight every day before class. Honestly who do you think you are to decide who this girl dates and who she doesn't? Next we have you attacking a new student on his first day of school not once but twice, luck for you he turned out to be a martial artist with an extreme sense of self control, were it me in his shoes you would have gotten that injury with in the first month." Mr. Shimazu gestured toward his nose and Kuno got the message. "Then you proceeded to attack both him and his fiancée up until today. Not to mention all the attacks on him off school property. And speaking of school property all the property damage. And last but not least your serious offense earlier this morning. Now given that your record up until this year has been spotless and with near perfect grades the school board has decided to be lenient and not expel you, instead they've decided that you are to have in-school suspension for the rest of the year you will be allowed interaction with your homeroom classmates and no-one else. Outside that you are to apologize to Miss. Tendo daily as well as Mr. Saotome. In addition after observing you this past month, I have decided that every Wednesday after school you are to attend counseling with Miss. Kobayashi." Kuno could feel the fantasy world he had built for himself being demolished brick by brick today.

"But that's the day Kendo club practices!" Kuno complained.

"Precisely until Miss. Kobayashi deems it fit you are not to attend kendo club." There a familiar yell coming from outside. Mr. Shimazu sighed he stood up and unlatched the window, opening it just in time for Ranma to fly in without shattering any glass. "Ah wonderful just who I was hoping to catch today." Ranma stood up rubbed his face no doubt the red slap mark still stung an uncouth "huh" was all they got from him. "Kuno I believe there is something you needed to say to Ranma here."

"Ah... Right" Kuno thought he would have more time to prepare. He took a breath, and looked him in the eyes. "Ranma... I would to apologize for all the grief I've given you since you started here; I truly regret my actions. I understand if you do not forgive me, but I would hope we might still be able to become friends."

"Ah geez, this is weird." Ranma thought, he was still rubbing his cheek. "It's... ah- it's alright Kuno you're forgive, I guess, I'm sorry for destroying your family honor blade, I know how important that can be especially for you. You should really apologize to Akane though; probably promise not to pursue her anymore."

"Alright Kuno that's a good start you are dismissed for the day. Tomorrow you are to show up in regular uniform and wait for Miss. Tendo to show up tomorrow and apologize. Then you are to come to me and I will show you to the in school suspension class room." Ranma and Kuno started to leave. "Mr. Saotome could you hold back for a few minutes?"

Ranma stopped short from the door. "Please have a seat." Ranma obliged. "Now it is my understanding that you are a martial artist with several rivals?" He looked to Ranma for confirmation who just nodded. "Alright then I will just come out and say it. Starting tomorrow you are to no longer fight while in school grounds; part of being a martial artist is knowing when and where to have a fight. If one of your rivals shows up inform them of this new rule and should they persist you are to move the fight off school grounds and handle it as quickly as possible and return to school as soon as possible. Are we clear?"  
Ranma could tell there was no room for argument this time. "yes sir..." Ranma felt awkward like he should definitely be standing up to this guy, but nothing he said sounded unreasonable. "Is that everything?"

"Well there is also the subject of your previous schooling. Am I correct in assuming that you would go great lengths of time not attending school until recently?" Ranma nodded. "Well your grades are pretty good considering you must have missed out on some key basic info. Tell me what are your plans for after high school?"

"I was planning on just teaching at the dojo." Mr. Shimazu nodded after he heard this.

"Okay well you do know that you need to go to school so you can get a business license and a take some teaching courses before you can even consider opening your dojo doors to the public. Or were you planning on letting Nabiki keep you indebted for the rest of your life by handling your finances for you?" Ranma paled at the idea of still being indebted to Nabiki for years to come. Mr. Shimazu didn't stop for an answer. "I wouldn't either. Anyway I was hoping you would consider getting with a tutor after school some days to help improve your grade."

"I'll think about it." in truth Ranma was actually seriously considering it if it meant having Nabiki out of his wallet then he was all the happier.

"That's all I ask. You are excused." Ranma got up and left as swiftly as possible. Kuno was waiting outside the office for him holding out a letter.

"Please would you give this letter of apology to Akane Tendo?"

'GAH today just keeps getting weirder and weirder.' he thought as he took the letter "sure."

At that he took off full speed before something stranger could happen. He was out of the building in seconds down the street and across the bridge in a mere moment only slowing down to make sure he didn't get splashed by the old lady. After he passed her he resumed his full speed sprint back to the Tendo home instead of going right in the door he jumped to the roof and climbed in through the window. He heaved a sigh of relief to be home and in his room. All he had to do was find the right time to give Akane the apology letter and he was scot-free. And if he was lucky there would be no late night interruptions.

A/N X2: jeez kinda Glad that's done. Sorry if Ranma or anyone else seems OOC this story is starting to go a different way than expected. Also I'm sorry for the wait with this that first scene with Ranma and Akane gave me trouble toward the end.


End file.
